Enter Nullify: The Future of the X-Men and Inhuman conflict
by griffunk
Summary: The tension between Mutants and Inhumans continues to build within the Marvel 616 universe, before the two factions attempt to wipe each other from existence a new figure emerges. Enter Nullify is my idea for a Marvel crossover event at the height of the Mutant/Inhuman conflict.
**Enter Nullify**

A war had been brewing between the Mutants and Inhumans, starting when the Terrigen Mists began making up more of Earth's atmosphere than the mutants could allow. The mists were slowly wiping away the mutant race altogether, forcing them to act in defense of their species. Upon investigating the Terrigen Mists, X-Man Hank McCoy discovered that the Terrigen bomb that started this whole conflict shouldn't have lasted as long as it has; somebody else had been releasing more Terrigen in smaller quantity all over the world.

Beast deduced that person to be Queen Medusa herself, due to the attacks of Magneto and his Uncanny X-Men against Inhumans, she decided to eradicate all mutants to protect her people. After discovering the truth Beast confronts Medusa and is killed. Little did she know that Kitty Pryde (who returned to Earth after learning the severity concerning the remaining number of mutants) had been asked by Beast to accompany him to New Attilan in case things went sour. She reveals herself to have been hiding and watching the events unfolding, Medusa tries to subdue her but she Kitty escapes. She returns to the X-Men and calls a meeting of all mutant teams, sharing what she had learned and seen and shared Beast's findings. Thus starting the Mutant/Inhuman War…

Several months of fighting between the two species ensues, pushing the conflict to the forefront of Earth 616. When the mutant population banded together, young Jean Grey decided against the fight, she instead opted to search for a peaceful solution because that is what Xavier would have insisted. In her quest to find a solution, a mysterious figure approaches her and demands to be taken to the conflict; he claims he is the only one who can stop the war. Jean has no choice but to take a chance on his word as she has found no other solution, however she cannot read the man's mind.

At the height of the Mutant/Inhuman War, the two sides' main factions met in what was meant to be the final showdown; the victor annihilating the opposing race's existence. The battle takes place on New Attilan of course, the desperate mutants chose to invade their enemy at the heart of the threat. Blood is shed on both sides, many beloved heroes ready to take their last breath fighting for their species. Suddenly the battlefield falls silent, fliers falling from the sky, power blasts cease, participants all looking to each other for an explanation. Through the debri, as the dust settles, appears Jean Grey accompanied by the cause of the power outage. "My name is James, your war is over".

 **Notable Impacts Elsewhere:**

-Medusa's actions will lead to her people later turning back to Black Bolt to lead them in the aftermath.

-Kitty leaving for Earth, and staying to fight for the X-Men, forces Peter Quill to return full-time to the Guardians of the Galaxy.

 **Mutant Discovery Program**

With mutant numbers starting to dwindle, a group of young mutants took to the internet and began a campaign encouraging people to test themselves for any remnant of the mutant X gene in their blood. They developed a way to extract even the smallest strand of the mutant gene from willing participants and preserve it. Since the public generally is anti-mutant, they promised absolute privacy in testing and removal of the gene, making that person 100% human from that point on. With the fear of mutant extinction always looming, their hope in preservation of all the mutant DNA they can get their hands is that they may create a sort of fail safe for mutants. It's a win-win scenario for those looking to remain human, and giving the mutants another possible chance at saving their species.

The campaign became a way for anti-mutant humans to verify themselves and market their businesses much like American's pride themselves on "American Made" products. A pressure began building for all businesses to verify that they are non-mutant and trustworthy in supporting the anti-mutant agenda.

 **The Origin of James Weber**

James Weber, a 26 year old bearded red haired white male, is the epitome of a slightly above average person. All his life he has never been able to accomplish success in any of his many ventures due to the fact that he is just above average at so many things, no one thing is he exceptional at. With that he has made an above average living running an ecommerce site, he's happy with his life; whom he shares with his wife and young daughter. The family lives in a modest home among the middle class in St. Louis, MO.

James' wife, Anna Weber, is deathly afraid of mutants. She fears them in the worst way as she worries that one day an altercation could endanger their daughter's life. Anna makes the family watch news stories about the Mutant/Inhuman conflict and the Terrigen Bomb that lead to many mutant deaths. Weeks later, James' business is beginning to struggle in the face of the Mutant Discovery Campaign as consumers refuse to buy anything from someone who could possibly be anything but human. James is indifferent, he doesn't discriminate against mutants or any species for that matter, he believes people should buy his products based on quality, not genetics. Anna, however, disagrees and begins calling him a mutant sympathizer, and forces him to get tested for the mutant X gene.

A rift grows between James and his wife, but he loves his daughter very much and will do what he must to keep his family together; which means getting tested so his business may survive along with his family. James gets tested by the mutants running the MDC and discovers that he is a mutant. According to the test, not only does he carry the X gene but it is a very prominent force in the makeup of his DNA. Scared for what this may do to his family and business, he tells them he wants to have all traces of mutant DNA removed from his blood. Due to the high levels of the X gene in his genetic makeup, the mutant doctors tell him that it would impossible to extract that much without killing him. The doctor asks him a series of questions about experiences in his life, hoping to uncover what his powers could be. They run some more tests after the questionnaire and unveil nothing, James is a mutant but with seemingly no special abilities.

James Weber is faced with the hardest decision in his life, he has a long drive home from where the discrete MDC clinic is located. Along the long winding road he thinks about what he has to do and decides that he will have to tell Anna about being a mutant; if he's a mutant that means his daughter is too. He tells himself that if Anna can't accept that he is a mutant, at least maybe she can accept their daughter is. Confident that she'll learn to change her thinking on mutants, he approaches the city of St. Louis; there's a storm on the horizon, it seems to have just passed through their home neighborhood.

James arrives at home to find his house empty, as a weird day gets even weirder he frantically searches the house looking for his family. He finds them in the backyard, but something is terribly wrong. Anna is on her knees crying and holding their daughter, she turns to James and screams out "she's dead!" The storm that passed through was that of the Terrigen Mists, their daughter was outside playing and was exposed. The Terrigen Mists had killed her because she was a mutant as they had seen on the news. Anna deserves to know the truth and he tells her, "I'm a mutant". She knows what that means and blames him for the death of their daughter. In the days following the tragic event, Anna leaves James after burying their child.

James' life has completely fallen apart, disgusted with himself for what happened, his business destroyed, his family gone; he no longer has a purpose in life. He's focused his attention on the Inhumans and their Terrigen Mist as it claims more mutant lives across the country. James tracks where the next Terrigen storm is supposed to take place and decides to proactively travel there in anticipation of the storm. The mutant doctor with the MDC explained to him that sometimes a mutant doesn't discover their ability until a moment of extreme stress. Convinced that his only power is to bring death to those he loves he decides to die the way his daughter did, by exposing himself to Terrigen Mist.

At the site of the approaching storm, James finds that he is not alone. A small group of three renegade Inhumans have kidnapped a teenaged female mutant, attempting to also expose her to the Terrigen to "cleanse" her. James decides his final act before the storm reaches them will be to intervene and try to free the mutant girl. He sees his daughter in this mutant teenager and wants to give her a chance to live. He sneaks up and blindsides one of the Inhumans, striking the blue fish looking being to the ground. The other two over power him, one of them raises their hand, charging a heat blast that will likely burn a hole right through him. The Inhuman asks "why are you risking yourself to save a mutant?" He doesn't reply and continues to spit blood out of his mouth, looking over at the defenseless mutant girl.

"Are you a dirty mutant?" Asks the fish like Inhuman, "He's gotta be, in that case he shall be cleansed along with the girl". James breaks free and quickly releases the girl, she makes a break for it, staying ahead of the storm. One of the Inhumans takes off after the mutant, the other two reacquire their grasp on James. The storm reaches them, James smiles thinking his final act was freeing the young mutant girl. He starts to convulse, the two thugs drop him to the ground to let the Terrigen finish it's job killing him. Something isn't right, this is supposed to be his end but he finds himself not only alive, but like something had awoken in him.

The heat blast Inhuman raises his hand again to charge a blast and finish Weber off. James says simply "no" and the charge building up in his enemy's plan goes away. His fishy counterpart's skin starts to fade away, along with his gills, to reveal a much smaller human being. He tells them to leave and starts to chase after the mutant and her assailant. James catches up, "Why aren't you dead yet?!" Yells the Inhuman. Weber cracks him over the head with a bottle from the storm debri that has settled since the storm's passing. The young mutant looks up at James and says "how are we alive?", he replies with "I think I found my purpose". They both reflect on what just took place, the young mutant convinces James that he's a hero, asks what she should call him. James Weber looks at his life and all that had happened in recent weeks, he thinks about the Inhuman and mutant conflict, all the pain and death he's seen in the news surrounding the two species. He sees his place in it, with his power finally showing it's face just when he needed it to, he tells her "You can call me Nullify".

 **Nullify: James Weber**

James Weber's mutant ability is to nullify other mutant powers, his desire to save the life of another put him in enough of a stressful situation and desire to fight that it activated this ability. The exposure to the Terrigen Mist had a reverse effect on him, awakening the full extent of his ability to not only nullify mutant powers but also that of the Inhuman. There now exists an element in the Mutant/Inhuman War that makes them equal. Nullify is here to stop the fighting, to bring balance and act as a buffer to the two sides as they figure out how to coexist again. These are his only abilities, he may be able to stop any imposing power attack on him but that doesn't protect him at all from physical force or conventional weapons.

-His intentions are to force the two factions to stop fighting, but can he be manipulated by one side?

-Will he be the savior or the ultimate tool to annihilate either the mutants, or Inhumans, or both?

-What is the extent of his powers? Are there limits to his reach?


End file.
